Invisiblewall.net - A Gilberto Silva Fan Site

About The Editor

About Me

I am the editor of Invisiblewall.net, but you can call me The Editor of Invisiblewall.net for short. Since this website is about the man called Gilberto Silva, there's not a whole lot of point in me talking about myself. But since you clicked onto this page, and you are still reading this sentence, I will assume that you want to read about me.

I'm a 38 year old male. I'm a British and Brazilian national, born in London, where I grew up. I played musical instruments from age 7, and played football from age 10. Aged 12, I saw my first live football match (England vs. Norway), then aged 14 I saw my first live club match (Arsenal vs. Man Utd). I learnt about building crappy websites aged 16, and then about writing crappy code when I was 18.

I completed higher education, then lived in Portugal for 6 months. I returned to England briefly, then went to Brazil for a year. I returned to England where I now live.

The first time which I saw Gilberto Silva play football was during the 2002 World Cup Final in Japan. He played a fantastic game, and Brazil won 2-0. Though Gilberto lifted the World Cup that day, I didn't realise I would become such a big fan of his from that point forward. After he moved to England, became a bigger and bigger fan of his each time I saw him play for Arsenal. Other notable times I saw him play was for Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006 (I was at the game, waving a Brazilian flag), and for Brazil against Italy in London, 2009.

Why do I like Gilberto so much?

Good question. An easy answer would be that he was the only Brazilian playing football in England during the early 2000s. But the actual answer is slightly more than that.

I have always loved players who quietly do their job without much praise, such as Lee Dixon, Grimandi and Denilson. Also, I have always loved Brazilian players (Ronaldo, Cafu, Robinho, Emerson etc.). On top of this, I tend to be a big fan of Arsenal players (Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires etc.). Since Gilberto fits all three of these criteria, my love for Gilberto comes quite naturally.

However, the main reason I am such a fan of him is that I admire his politeness, determination, achievements, and in conjunction with all of these, his modesty. The story of his childhood endeared me to him, and the manner which I always saw him conduct himself on and off the pitch made me a life long fan of his.